The subject matter of the present invention relates generally to apparatus and method for aligning and packaging elongated articles, and in particular, to such apparatus and method in which the articles are prealigned by conveying them on a vibrating conveyor with their longitudinal axes parallel to their direction of travel which forms an acute angle with the front wall of an alignment container into which they are fed. The alignment container is also vibrated at a different frequency than the vibrating conveyor in order to further settle and align the elongated articles therein so that their axes extend substantially parallel to the front wall of such container.
The apparatus and method for aligning and packaging elongated articles in accordance with the present invention is especially useful for aligning and packaging food products, such as french fried potatoe strips which may be partially precooked and frozen as french fries are sold to fast food restaurants. As a result of such alignment and packaging, the same amount of product can be packaged in smaller bags and such bags can be shipped in smaller cartons so that more of such cartons can be stacked on a fork lift truck pallet and placed in unitized shipping containers for shipping in refrigerated trunks or rail road cars. Thus, a greater amount of product on the order of approximately 8 to 10% more can be packed in the same shipping space. There is less breakage of the product and a higher product quality since hand packing and unloading of the packages is avoided. Lass bag material is required for packaging and there is less air in the sealed bags which reduces spoilage and increases freezer storage time. While french fried potatoe strips are of different lengths and some are broken, about 80% of the packaged potatoe strips are aligned in the packages using the apparatus and method of the present invention. It should be noted that while french fried potatoe strips are partially cooked by oil blanching and frozen individually before alignment and packaging, other elongated food products, such as string beans, can be aligned and packaged using the present invention without cooking and/or freezing.
It has been previously proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,094,123 of Carlson, issued June 13, 1978 to provide an apparatus and method for aligning elongated articles by employing a plurality of barrier gates which extend transversely across a vibrating conveyor so that the articles are aligned with such gates transversely to the longitudinal axis of the conveyor. The articles are moved along the conveyor from one gate to another for further alignment and eventually discharged from such conveyor into a packaging machine. Unlike the present invention, the elongated articles are not conveyed into an alignment container with their longitudinal axes prealigned parallel to their direction of travel which forms an acute angle with the back wall of an alignment container. Instead, the articles are fed in a direction of travel substantially perpendicular to the barrier gates and are aligned on the vibrating conveyor with their axes perpendicular to the axis of the conveyor. The aligned articles are then discharged individually from the conveyor into the packaging machine which disturbs their alignment. Furthermore, the prior vibrating conveyor with the barrier gates attached thereto conveys the articles from gate to gate only after the gate is raised so that it conveys the articles across such conveyor at a much slower rate, thereby increasing the alignment and packaging time.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,753,978 of Fitzmaurice, issued July 10, 1956, shows an aligning conveyor system in which logs are aligned by conveying them against a deflector which extends diagonally across the conveyor and funnels the logs into an outlet opening of a small size adapted to pass only one log at a time. The logs are discharged from such conveyor onto an alignment unit which feeds the logs onto an outfeed conveyor with the axis of such logs perpendicular to the direction of travel of such outfeed conveyor. Unlike the present invention, the elongated articles are not fed on a vibrating conveyor to prealign the elongated articles with their axes substantially parallel to the direction of travel. Also, logs are not conveyed in a direction of travel which makes an acute angle with the front wall of an alignment container into which such logs are deposited for further alignment and settling by the vibration of such alignment container in accordance with the present invention.
It is old to provide an apparatus for aligning and packaging articles in which such articles are automatically weighed and aligned before packaging using a vibrating conveyor, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,056,485 of Liberty, issued Oct. 2, 1962. However, in this patent the articles are weighed before alignment. Also, the articles are not prealigned on a vibrating conveyor and fed in a direction of travel which forms an acute angle with the front surface of an alignment container into which they are fed and which is also vibrated in the manner of the present invention. The use of a photocell light beam detector to count articles or determine the level of articles in a container is old in an aligning and packaging apparatus as shown by U.S. Pat. No. 3,492,779 of Russell, issued Feb. 3, 1970 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,535,847 of Strohmeier et al, issued Oct. 27, 1970.